Sinhala scholarship was traditionally rooted in the Buddhist clerical establishment, and the vast majority of ancient and mediaeval literary works were of a religious nature. Except for a few political treatises, there were virtually no distinguished works of secular interest. From the late 19th century, however, a multitude of secular literary (prose) works began to appear; the close link between modern history and the evolution of the Sinhala novel can be traced back about seven decades.

Manouri K. Jayasinghe

According to K.M. De Silva, ‘in the first decade of the twentiethcentury there was a perceptible quickening in thepace of political activity in the island after the near immobilityin formal politics in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.’1

The early 1920s saw unrest among skilled workers;encouraged by influential political leaders, they demandedbetter working conditions and higher remuneration. Marxismentered Sri Lankan politics around 1926 through the SuriyaMal movement and gained ground in the 30s, eventuallyresulting in the establishment of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party(LSSP) in 1936.

Although independence was gained through a peaceful electoralprocess in February 1948, the post-independence historyof Sri Lanka is spattered with blood. The passing of the ‘SinhalaOnly’ Act in parliament in 1956 heightened tensionsbetween Tamils and Sinhalese. With the opening of the economyin the 1960s, Sinhalese felt their jobs being threatenedas their knowledge of English was poor compared to Tamilswho had close contact with English missionaries. Unemploymentamong Sinhala youth contributed to the birth of theJanatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), which called for the liberationof the Sinhalese people from the shackles of post-colonialismand led to the youth insurrection of 1971.

Difference in political status, the rift between English and non-English speakers, and measures taken by the Sinhalese governingparty resulted in the formation of a separatist group inthe Tamil community. Evolving through mergers and splitsover 35 years and using guerrilla and terrorist attacks to achievetheir ends, this group is known today as the Liberation Tigersof Tamil Eelam (LTTE). In the early 1980s the dormant conflictover land flared up, and the late 80s saw a period of virtualanarchy with government forces combating Sinhaleseinsurgents in the south and separatist Tamil guerrillas in thenorth. After 20 years of guerrilla war, an uneasy peace nowprevails.

History and the novel

In examining how the Sinhala novel reflects Sri Lankan history,I consider history as resulting from disequilibrium in anation’s cultural, political or economic life. These closely relatedaspects are in fragile equilibrium: any imbalance in onearea will give it prominence over the others, thereby creatingsocial events recorded as history. From its beginnings up tothe early post-independence period, the Sinhala novel depictedhistory mainly as the result of changes in cultural and politicaloutlook; economic trends were given greater prominencefrom the 1960s. Some Sinhala novelists set their work againsta historical background, some treat events ahistorically, whileothers favour the symbolic representation of political eventswhich make up history.

Wasanawantha Pawula haa Kalakanni Pawula (The Fortunateand the Unfortunate Family, 1866) by Issac Silva (1844-1907)can be considered the forerunner of the Sinhala novel. Morea narrative than a novel, the tone is one of debate. In contrast,Silva’s contemporary Bentota Albert Silva (1866-1919), knownfor Vimala (1892) and Adara Hasuna (Love Letter, 1894),manipulates the imaginary to create atmosphere. Althoughworks of fiction, these authors’ writings cannot be classifiedas novels since they lack many features of the form. HenceMeena (1905), a simple love story by Simon Silva (1874-1920),is recognized as the first Sinhala novel – it focuses on the innerworkings of the heroine’s mind, revealing a gift for characterdevelopment, and bears other characteristics of the novel asgenre.2

Although secular prose works had been appearing for some25 years, the first writer to deal with history as a central themewas Piyadasa Sirisena (1875-1946), whose works reflect hiscommitment to safeguarding the values of traditional societythreatened by the anglicization overtaking Sri Lankan societyin the pre-independence period. Apata Wetchche Dey (ThatWhich Happened to Us) and Yanthan Galavunaa (Managed toEscape at Last) represent the views of this highly nationalisticwriter as well as the period’s cultural climate.

Martin Wickramasinghe (1890-1976) may well be the greatest20th century Sinhala writer. In his trilogy Gamperaliya (TheChange in the Village, 1944), Yuganthaya (The End of the Era,1949) and Kaliyugaya (The Epoch of Kali, 1957), he depicts thetransition of Sri Lankan society from the last vestiges of feudalismto urban mercantile capitalism, which generated socialism.3 Inevitably, his works deal with class differences. Gamperaliyais a great work of literature, the first full-fledgedSinhala novel. It describes the advent of capitalism throughthe experiences of farmers living in a feudal village in southernSri Lanka. Though the novel is ostensibly the story of thelove between Nanda, the daughter of the feudal landlord, andPiyal, a lower-caste school teacher, the theme of social changeis its thread, evoked by the changing social status of the twoprotagonists and their eventual marriage.

The two novels that follow continue this family saga. In Yuganthaya,published just after independence, the order is reversed:the focus here is on Nanda and Piyal’s British-educated, revolutionarygrandson Malin Kabalana, who aims to change thesocial system upon his return to Sri Lanka. The author explainsthat the struggle of the working class against capitalism, especiallyin 1947, influenced the writing of this novel.4 In Kaliyugaya,written about a decade after independence, Wickramasinghehighlights the confusion of Sri Lankans who hadembraced urban capitalism, describing Nanda and Piyal’s disenchantmentwith their family and offering insights into earlypost-independence Colombo high society. The trilogy is of historicalvalue because it represents the socio-political evolutionof the period. On the other hand, Viragaya (Detachment, 1956)is a masterpiece considered to be the turning point of modernSinhala literature.5

K. Jayatileka’s Parajithayo (The Defeated, 1960), depicts thepolitical and social realities of the 1950s. These emerge in theobstacles to social advancement which confront Udeni, ayoung man from the village who goes to study in Colombo.Another of Jayatileka’s novels, Delovata Nathi Aya (Those NotBelonging to Both Worlds, 1963), deals with the plight of themasses after independence, the author’s disillusionment withthe lack of change in Sri Lankan politics after 1956, and thepolitical landscape of that period.

T. B. Illangaratne’s Peraliya (Insurgency, 1972) and E.R.Sarachchandra’s Heta Etchchara Kaluwara Na (1975)6 are monumentsto the 1971 youth insurrection. Gunadasa Amarasekera’sAsathya Kathaawak (An Unreal Story of a Death, 1977)and its sequel Premeye Sathya Kathaawa (A Surreal Story ofLove, 1978)7 also treat aspects of the youth rebellion. Continuinginto the 1980s, Sumithra Rahubhadhdha captures thistumultuous period in her novel Itipahan (Candles, 1998),alluding not only to the attempted youth revolution of the 70s,but also to the period of mayhem in the 80s.

Milestones in history

Gunadasa Amarasekera, in his series of six novels begun inthe early 1980s, is the most prominent of the novelists whoahistorically illustrate milestones in history. He deals with theevolution and predicament of the rural middle class, whichmigrated to the capital shortly before independence, and howevents in history influenced them. The first book in the series,Gamanaka Mula (The Beginning of a Journey), is set in theimmediate pre-independence era when migration to the townsbegan. Gamdorin Eliyate (Out of the Village), depicts the postindependenceperiod from 1948 to 1956 and the transformationof the rural middle class into one that emulated its urbancounterparts. The third book, Inimage Ihalata (Ascending theLadder), portrays the change in Sri Lankan politics that tookplace in 1956. Piyadasa, the main character, is a rural migrantcaught up in the whirlwind, with no possibility of return. Thefourth novel Vankagiriya (The Labyrinth) deals with the 60s,when Piyadasa, now a disoriented, disillusioned youth, rebelsagainst accepted social norms and society in general. In YaliMaga Vetha (Back on the Path), Piyadasa mourns his lost ruralvalues; this novel is more inward-looking than outwardlyfocused. The recently published Dura Rataka Dukata Kiriyaka(Suffering in a Far-off Land) describes Piyadasa’s sufferingduring higher education in England. A transformed man, hereturns to Sri Lanka, but not before the long-awaited victoryof the United Front in the 1970 general election has beenmarred by the insurrection staged by the JVP in April the followingyear.

Another ahistorical work, Sarath Dharmasiri’s Sada Sulanga(The Violent Winds, 1991), deals with the wasteland reformsinitiated by the Colebrooke commission in the 1830s, theirimpact on the rural economy and the suffering of the ruralpeople which culminated in the uprising of 1848. PiyadasaWelikanna’s award-winning Sudu Sevanali (White Shadows,1986), acclaimed as a mirror of the cultural, economic andsocial spheres of mid-19th century, deals with the birth of theNational Liberation Movement around the hill country in 1848,its struggle against British colonization, its eventual defeatand the establishment of British rule in every corner of thecountry.

The last category of novels, which reveal tendencies in modernSri Lankan history but give no hint of the period, falls intotwo groups, either figuratively representing politics or specificallyindicating their political references and thus their relationto history. Miniwan P. Tilekaratne’s Thrushnaabharana(Bedecked in Jewels of Desire, 1991) is of the first type, andtakes a refreshingly new approach to political problems. Theprotagonist, realizing the ridiculousness of the governing system,attempts to undo it by using naivety to expose the idiosyncrasiesof the rulers. This novel could refer to various politicalregimes of the last few decades. Sunanda Mahendra, inthe more politically explicit Unu Alu Palla (On BurningEmbers, 1993), depicts the thorny public and family life of aleftist school teacher who goes to all ends to stand up for hisconvictions. This protagonist could be representative of theleftists of the mid-thirties as well as their modern-day heirs.With the centenary of the birth of the Sinhala novel falling thisyear, it is hoped that this paper can serve as a tribute to it, bytracing its evolution and the many ways the novel can and hasbeen used to illustrate modern Sri Lankan history. <